"Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
This includes various therapies and practices such as acupuncture, herbalism, homeopathy, and many others that are not widely accepted by conventional medicine.
Acupuncture: A form of traditional Chinese medicine that involves the insertion of thin needles into specific points on the body to balance energy flow and promote healing.
Aromatherapy: The use of plant extracts and essential oils in massage or baths to promote physical and psychological wellbeing.
Ayurveda: An ancient Indian system of medicine that promotes balance in the body through diet, exercise, herbal remedies, and other natural therapies.
Chiropractic: A therapeutic approach that focuses on the manipulation of joints and muscles to improve bodily function and relieve pain.
Energy Healing: An umbrella term for various practices that aim to balance the body's energy fields, such as Reiki, Qigong, and Therapeutic Touch.
Herbal Medicine: The use of plants, plant extracts, and other natural substances to treat various health conditions.
Homeopathy: A system of medicine that uses small doses of natural substances to stimulate the body's natural healing process.
Meditation: A practice that involves training the mind to focus and relax, often used to reduce stress and anxiety.
Naturopathy: A holistic approach to healthcare that focuses on natural remedies and the body's ability to heal itself.
Reflexology: A complementary therapy that involves applying pressure to specific points on the feet, hands, and ears that correspond to different organs and systems in the body.
Tai Chi: A Chinese martial art that involves slow, deliberate movements and deep breathing, often used for stress reduction and improving balance.
Yoga: A practice that combines physical postures, breath control, and meditation to promote overall health and wellbeing.
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science."
"Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others resort to the supernatural or superstitious to explain their effect or lack thereof."
"In others, the practice has plausibility but lacks a positive risk–benefit outcome probability."
"Research into alternative therapies often fails to follow proper research protocols (such as placebo-controlled trials, blind experiments, and calculation of prior probability), providing invalid results."
"Much of the perceived effect of an alternative practice arises from a belief that it will be effective (the placebo effect)."
"Multiple studies have shown significantly worse outcomes if patients turn to alternative therapies. While this may be because these patients avoid effective treatment, some alternative therapies are actively harmful..."
"The alternative medicine sector is a highly profitable industry with a strong lobby, and faces far less regulation over the use and marketing of unproven treatments."
"Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine attempt to combine alternative practices with those of mainstream medicine."
"Traditional medicine practices become 'alternative' when used outside their original settings and without proper scientific explanation and evidence."
"Alternative methods are often marketed as more 'natural' or 'holistic' than methods offered by medical science, that is sometimes derogatorily called 'Big Pharma' by supporters of alternative medicine."
"Billions of dollars have been spent studying alternative medicine, with few or no positive results and many methods thoroughly disproven."
"...despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
"...do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies', pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative therapies are actively harmful (e.g. cyanide poisoning from amygdalin, or the intentional ingestion of hydrogen peroxide) or actively interfere with effective treatments."
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method... alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method."
"This is further exacerbated by the tendency to turn to alternative therapies upon the failure of medicine, at which point the condition will be at its worst and most likely to spontaneously improve."